C: International Contemporary Art articles from December 2007

C: International Contemporary Art archives from December 2007

Real existing capitalism.(Editorial)
December 22, 2007... For the theme of this issue, Real Existing Capitalism, I have to thank Montreal writer and dramaturge, and frequent C contributor, Jacob Wren. Having agreed with Jacob that his theme was a good one, I spent some time with him puzzling over what...

Art market education: what lessons does the art market hold for the young artist? Sholem Krishtalka on reading Adam Lindemann's book, Collecting Contemporary.(Views)
December 22, 2007... "Where any view of Money exists, Art cannot be carried on."--William Blake "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."--Samuel Johnson MY ART EDUCATION was bookended by two discussions of art and money. It's impossible not...

The politics of cool: Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby ask why the curatorial practice of Astria Suparak, late of The Warehouse Gallery in Syracuse, was deemed so controversial in that city.(Views)
December 22, 2007... ASTRIA SUPARAK is a young curator originally from Los Angeles, who started curating during her undergrad years at The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, when she was in her late teens. She was a contemporary of Miranda July's, and collaborated with...

Family romance: IKEA sets the stage for Israeli artist Guy Ben-Ner's household politics.
December 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Guy Ben-Ner first achieved prominence on the international stage with his sculpture and video Treebouse Kit (2005), his contribution as Israel's representative at the 51st Venice Biennale. Sporting a chunky beard...

Crashing fashion: Ryan English talks to Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli on the occasion of his recent show at the Power Plant in Toronto.(Interview)
December 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] RYAN ENGLISH: The first thing for me in your work that stands out is the presence of strong women, screen icons. I am wondering how much you identify with these women? FRANCESCO VEZZOLI: No, I don't necessarily...

Conflict studies: Andria Hickey discusses how Walid Raad's Atlas Group uses fiction to help us understand the facts in Lebanon.
December 22, 2007... Naomi Klein's recent best-seller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007), draws a parallel between the behaviour of individuals under torture or duress and an ideology the sees moments of collective crisis as "window[s] of...

High Dispersion of Light #2.
December 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Devon Knowles High Dispersion of Light #2, 2007 coloured pencil and ink, 30.5 cm x 40.6 cm.

Lenin, bicycles, theory and love; Rainer Ganahl: Christine Martin in conversation with Rainer Ganahl, the Austrian artist who offers Marxist reading seminars part of his practice.(Interview)
December 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Part I RAINER GANAHL: Christine, I'm leaving for Istanbul in a couple of hours but keep asking me questions... CHRISTINE MARTIN: Because this issue is about capitalism, I would like to focus primarily on...

Megatron: team interview with Brian Joseph Davis & Steve Kado. The founder of the Blocks Recording Club talks to the Toronto artist about Patty Hearst, Whitney Huston and data-based art.(Interview)
December 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Brian Joseph Davis does art and lives in Toronto. He has published a book with Coach House Books, Portable Altamont (2005), shown all kinds of art, made multiples and has done a number of different audio...

Kai Schiemenz: Fahnemann Projects, Berlin.
December 22, 2007... Due to the strange scale of his installations, Kai Schiemenz's work occupies an ambiguous space between traditional media categories. Their playful and unlikely compositions within the gallery context make them appear to be architectural...

Auto Emotion: Autobiography, Emotion and Self-Fashioning.
December 22, 2007... Auto Emotion: Autobiography, Emotion and Self-Fashioning is the most ambitious and compelling group show seen at the Power Plant in recent memory, a belated showcase of what director Gregory Burke and curator Helena Reckitt--hired in 2005 and...

Artefact Montreal 2007--urban sculptures: various artists, including: Mathieu Beausdjour, BGL, Diane Borsato, Aganetha Dyck, Stephen Schofield, and Martha Townsend, Montreal.
December 22, 2007... The third edition of Artefact, Montreal's tri-annual exposition of public art, took as its theme the 40th anniversary of Expo 67. As with previous editions of the event, commissioned works were created in situ for a specifically designated area...

State Britain: Mark Wallinger, Tate Britain, London.
December 22, 2007... In New York City, I'm always struck by the extent to which art is about a particular brand of youthful glamour, a singular species of cool. There's an obligation to hang out a lot, in particular clothes, with a particular combination of passion...

Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down To Me: Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver.
December 22, 2007... To turn something upside-down implies challenging that thing by altering the mode of its comprehension. In art, the notion of upside-downness is an implicit component of perception and a creative strategy. Presentation House Gallery's fall...

Woodlot: the 3rd KW/AG Biennial: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery.
December 22, 2007... "Regional" is a loaded term, a compliment and insult fused together, and when attached to an artist it could earn you a sock in the jaw, just as easily as it might win you a round of drinks. On one hand, the term exposes a certain insecurity:...

Emmanuelle Leonard: une sale affaire, Optica, Montreal.
December 22, 2007... Emmanuelle Leonard is one seductive grifter of a photographic artist. Why, you ask? Because she lures us into a psychological space where we want to believe her dramatic fictions are true. Once we cross the threshold into her consummately...

Patterns why: Matthew Burbidge/Jaro Straub, Spesshardt & Klein, Berlin.
December 22, 2007... In today's art practices, the dysfunctional can be rebellious, which can be positive, but only when it is embedded in the user's competence--meaning that the viewer must have the ability to correctly decipher dysfunctionality, to decipher its...

Flatlander.
December 22, 2007... Steve Topping, Flatlander, a cyclical 2km skiing trail with its direction chosen by reflective tacks placed with each other. Thanks to BorealArt/Nature and Canada Council.